{"id":238059,"date":"2025-10-25T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T00:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/238059\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T00:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T00:01:09","slug":"footage-shows-monkeys-raining-from-the-trees-in-floridas-sliver-springs-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/238059\/","title":{"rendered":"Footage Shows Monkeys Raining From the Trees in Florida’s Sliver Springs State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida appears to be preparing for the premiere of Wicked: For Good<\/a>, because flying monkeys are taking over the state.\n<\/p>\n

On Oct. 16, Trenda Kitchen was enjoying a peaceful kayak ride along the waterways of Silver Springs State Park near Ocala, Fla., when the quiet was interrupted by dozens of playful monkeys looking to cool off.<\/p>\n

The Florida park is home to a healthy population of feral, non-native rhesus macaques. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)<\/a>, the monkeys, native to Asia, first arrived at Silver Springs in the 1930s, when they were used for a jungle boat tour and then escaped into the park. Since then, the rhesus macaques have thrived.\n<\/p>\n

Kitchen ran into a rambunctious group of rhesus macaques who decided to cause waves during her quiet kayak ride by cannonballing from the trees of Silver Springs State Park into the clear waters below.\n<\/p>\n

Monkeys jumping into water in front of kayaker at Silver Springs State Park in Florida.<\/p>\n

Trenda Kitchen via Storyful<\/p>\n

In Kitchen’s clip, which she shared with Storyful<\/a>, the excited monkeys repeatedly hit the water, producing increasingly forceful splashes. Soon, the Florida woman’s kayak is surrounded by swimming, curious macaques.\n<\/p>\n

Kitchen stays calm throughout the onslaught of diving monkeys, giggling to herself and commenting, “They’re jumping in. Look at them all!” while the monkeys plummet from the trees and into the water.\n<\/p>\n

Monkey jumping into water at Silver Springs State Park.<\/p>\n

Trenda Kitchen via Storyful<\/p>\n

“It’s raining monkeys,” she adds as the wild animals continue to leap from above near Kitchen’s kayak. The woman keeps her distance from the macaques, but even with her caution, she comes within a few feet of a diving monkey several times.\n<\/p>\n

After over 30 seconds of continuous monkey cannonballs, the rhesus macaques’ water show appears to end, and all of the monkeys who took the plunge swim to land away from Kitchen.\n<\/p>\n

According to the FWC, Kitchen handled the surprising situation perfectly by giving the wild animal plenty of space.\n<\/p>\n

Rhesus macaques.<\/p>\n

Getty<\/p>\n

“If you encounter wild monkeys in Florida, it is important to keep a safe distance. Never feed wild monkeys. Feeding wild monkeys in Florida is illegal,” the FWC noted, adding that rhesus macaques can act aggressively and transmit diseases.\n<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\n<\/p>\n

As of December 2017, the feeding of “free-roaming, non-human primates” in Florida is prohibited by the FWC. Breaking this rule can result in a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and 60 days in jail, per WTSP<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida appears to be preparing for the premiere of Wicked: For Good, because flying monkeys are taking over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-238059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}